- The Oxford Handbook of Warfare in the Classical World
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- CONTRIBUTORS
- Abbreviations and Spelling Norms
- Chronology
- Emperors from Augustus to Heraclius
- Preface
- Maps
- War and Warfare in Ancient Greece
- War and Warfare in Ancient Rome
- Greece: Winning Ways in Warfare
- Rome: A Story of Conflict
- The Archaeology of War
- Warfare and Environment in the Ancient World
- The Classical Greek Experience
- The Three Thousand: Alexander’s Infantry Guard
- The Hellenistic World at War: Stagnation or Development?
- War and Society in Greece
- The Rise of Rome
- Imperial Rome at War
- War and Society in the Roman Empire
- Men at War
- Treating the Sick and Wounded
- Keeping Military Discipline
- The Business of War: Mercenaries
- Logistics: Sinews of War
- War at Sea
- Arming Greeks for Battle
- Arming Romans for Battle
- Greeks Under Siege: Challenges, Experiences, and Emotions
- Generalship: Leadership and Command
- Finding the Enemy: Military Intelligence
- Horses for War: Breeding and Keeping a Warhorse
- The Development and Training of Cavalry in Greece and Rome
- Greek Rituals of War
- Roman Rituals of War
- Greeks and Achaemenid Persians
- The Germanic and Danubian Transfrontier Peoples
- Military and Society in Sasanian Iran
- The Athenian Expedition to Sicily
- The Peloponnesian War and Its Sieges
- Epaminondas at Leuctra, 371 b.c.
- Demetrius “the Besieger” and Hellenistic Warfare
- The Second Punic War
- Roman Warfare with Sasanian Persia
- Epilogue: The Legacy of War in the Classical World
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter evaluates the Roman writing on the subject of warfare, addressing Julius Caesar in his Commentaries on the Gallic War and the Commentaries on the Civil War. It also considers Velleius Paterculus in his Roman Histories and Ammianus Marcellinus in his Histories. Moreover, the chapter discusses Frontinus in his Stratagems and Vegetius in his Epitome of Military Science, as well as Sallust in his War against Jugurtha and War against Catiline, Livy in his From the Founding of the City, and Tacitus in his Annals and Agricola. Like Velleius, Ammianus gives the commanding officers credit for military success or blame for failure, and like Caesar, recognizes the critical role of flexibility in combat. In conclusion, Roman authors identified that the smarter and more careful, virtuous, courageous, and determined generals (usually Roman) always prevailed.
Keywords: warfare, Roman writing, Julius Caesar, Velleius Paterculus, Ammianus Marcellinus, Frontinus, Vegetius, Sallust, Livy, Tacitus
Michael Lovano, Associate Professor of History at St. Norbert College
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- The Oxford Handbook of Warfare in the Classical World
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- CONTRIBUTORS
- Abbreviations and Spelling Norms
- Chronology
- Emperors from Augustus to Heraclius
- Preface
- Maps
- War and Warfare in Ancient Greece
- War and Warfare in Ancient Rome
- Greece: Winning Ways in Warfare
- Rome: A Story of Conflict
- The Archaeology of War
- Warfare and Environment in the Ancient World
- The Classical Greek Experience
- The Three Thousand: Alexander’s Infantry Guard
- The Hellenistic World at War: Stagnation or Development?
- War and Society in Greece
- The Rise of Rome
- Imperial Rome at War
- War and Society in the Roman Empire
- Men at War
- Treating the Sick and Wounded
- Keeping Military Discipline
- The Business of War: Mercenaries
- Logistics: Sinews of War
- War at Sea
- Arming Greeks for Battle
- Arming Romans for Battle
- Greeks Under Siege: Challenges, Experiences, and Emotions
- Generalship: Leadership and Command
- Finding the Enemy: Military Intelligence
- Horses for War: Breeding and Keeping a Warhorse
- The Development and Training of Cavalry in Greece and Rome
- Greek Rituals of War
- Roman Rituals of War
- Greeks and Achaemenid Persians
- The Germanic and Danubian Transfrontier Peoples
- Military and Society in Sasanian Iran
- The Athenian Expedition to Sicily
- The Peloponnesian War and Its Sieges
- Epaminondas at Leuctra, 371 b.c.
- Demetrius “the Besieger” and Hellenistic Warfare
- The Second Punic War
- Roman Warfare with Sasanian Persia
- Epilogue: The Legacy of War in the Classical World
- Index